Why Many Students Still Aren’t Ready for Virtual Learning
I watched a revealing video made by Olivia, a freshman student from Toronto. It’s called “Numb,” and it’s just over three minutes long. It describes what life feels like for a kid who’s been forced to learn remotely. If you have three minutes, I encourage you to watch it here before reading my article below:…
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The Secret to Leading Poorly Performing Students Well
If you’re like me, you’ve attended countless webinars on leading students during a pandemic. You’ve probably read so many articles on COVID-19 you feel like a cross between a therapist and a physician’s assistant. You’ve likely been on video calls so much your eyes are blurry and you’ve contracted Irritable Zoom Syndrome. (Just a little…
Continue ReadingHelping Generation Z Use Self-Awareness to Create Self-Confidence
It didn’t take long for people to recognize that Babe Ruth was a special athlete. The Sultan of Swat was a natural baseball player, better at hitting and pitching than most ballplayers in his time. In fact, at one point, a researcher from Columbia University coaxed him to undergo an experiment that would reveal what…
Continue ReadingHow Emotional Intelligence Increases Students’ Influence
Chuck was a bully on my high school campus. Back in the day, everyone in our class dreaded encountering him. On a good day, he was merely rude or offensive. On a bad day, he’d be downright abusive or violent. Chuck came from a troubled background but knowing that didn’t change the way peers felt…
Continue ReadingEducators: The Most Important Leadership Trait You Can Teach This Year
A young couple recently moved into a new house. While eating breakfast their first morning, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging her wash on the clothesline in her backyard. “That laundry looks dirty. She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Maybe she needs better detergent,” remarked the wife. Her husband looked on, but remained…
Continue ReadingHow to Help Generation Z Redefine Resilience and Overcome Life’s Challenges
I’ve been white water rafting twice in my life, once in California and once in Colorado. It’s completely different from the lazy river rafting I’ve enjoyed on the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta. When rafting on the rapids, I don’t go out without an experienced guide who knows how to handle the rushing waters, rocks and…
Continue ReadingTwo Ideas to Enable Students to Engage and Retain a Virtual Lesson
Public education has been founded upon memorization and testing for over a century. While we all agree we must do more than drill our students to memorize curriculum, remembering information will always play a role in learning. Today, millions of teachers face an even more arduous task of doing all of this remotely. So, what…
Continue ReadingFour Huge Mistakes Schools Have Made Over the Years
I sat in a well-lit room, full of colorful posters on the walls. Twelve people from four generations sat in a circle. Our goal was to discuss how our world had changed over the decades and if we felt those changes made us better or worse. You can imagine our discussion was as colorful as…
Continue ReadingHow to Prepare Gen Z for the ‘New Normal’ After the Pandemic
When I was a young kid, seat belts were introduced to automobiles. I remember in 1968 when the federal government made them mandatory. At first, they were only lap belts with no strap across the chest. People claimed they hindered movement and wrinkled their clothes. It was a strange time as I watched several adults…
Continue ReadingFive Ingredients to Help Students Recover Following a Pandemic
The population of young people, ages 16 to 24, were already facing mental health problems. Now they feel delayed by COVID-19, and it has added to their anxiety levels. This portion of Generation Z and Millennials are disadvantaged. While it sounds strong, many of them feel: Postponed Pushed aside Penalized The teens in this group…
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